Phantom Prime
by Moocow1452
Summary: Synopsis: Daniel Fenton wakes up from blacking out after suriving the Master's Mansion explosion. Disclaimer: No copyrighted terms are mine. Save the story itself.
1. Chapter 1

Phantom Prime

By Moocow

Chapter 1: Aftermath

Daniel Fenton's eyes slowly forced themselfs open and started to focus. As the image cleared, Danny eyes shot wide open from there half awake position. The room was filled with acidic green smoke and it looked like ground zero of a nuclear war zone. What had happened? Danny asked himself as his brain slowly returned to an operating state.

A audible groan came from across the room, and Danny noticed an arm from under a piece of debris. Danny ran over to the arm, shakily since he hadn't gotten his bearings yet, and shoved the rock off the body. Vlad Masters was absolutely still at first glance. Danny froze, then shot into action, and checked his body over for any signs of life. Danny put his hand to his neck... and felt a warm beating pulse. "Thank you," Danny said, relieved that Vlad was fine as well.

Suddenly and without warning, Danny had remembered what had happened. Memories of momnents past flooded into his brain and began to haunt him. He felt the ghost gauntlets reaching into him, tearing him apart at the seams. He saw his ghost half merge with Vlad Plasmius to form his evil future self. He heard the red flashing alarms and Dan's evil laugh. And then, nothing.

Danny opened his eyes and remembered the past events. Beads of sweat rolled down his face as he pieced it together. "I ruined my life. No, that thing isn't even part of me! He ruined my life! What little happiness I had, he took it away. He did all of this to me. From the Nasty Burger, to this now!" Danny pound the collapsing wall, and it fell apart.

"I have nothing left now," he realized in a tragic revelation. "There is nothing left of my old life, I am all alone." He had no one left. His parents were gone, and Vlad is going to be more of a liability in the hospital. What could he do? Foster parents? Not the same. Orphanage? Even worse. Not to mention, he had nothing that traced him back to Danny Fenton. For all the world knows, he was some unlucky kid who died in the explosion. It was a miracle he was alive in the first place. And instantly, Danny realized what he had to do. He started to gather the money he still had and made an anonymous call for an ambulance for Vlad.

Vlad. Danny walked up to the comatose Vlad and put a hand around him. "I'm sorry I have to do this, V-man. I have to. If Dan finds out you survived, I don't want him to torture anything out of you." Danny started to break down and cry, something he hadn't did since the Nasty Burger incident. "I am so sorry I have to do this to you, Vlad. I know all you wanted was love, you wanted the Ideal life, and I know this will devastate you, but it's for the best. I am just so sorry." He was broken for this moment, showing his weakness throughout the world while hugging this unconscious man to death, but he was just as alone as before.

Suddenly, Danny heard sirens in the distance, the ambulance sounded like it was here and it brought backup. Danny got up and smiled, one broken man to another. "I've gotta go. I'll catch you on the flipside, Uncle Vlad." He then kissed the man on the cheek, and started to run, run as far and as fast as he could for somewhere, anywhere he could hide. For what he planned to do, the less people who knew Danny Fenton was alive, the better.

If Danny had stayed longer,he would have seen Vlad's lips curl into a smile of finally being loved. If Danny had stayed even longer, he would have seen the fire department storm the building and see that all they had recovered was a unconcious man in critical condition, and a partly scorched wallet, with a engraved tag stuck onto the leather on the inside pocket that read, "Property of Daniel Fenton."


	2. Chapter 2

Phantom Prime

by Moocow

Chapter 2: Remains

In top news tonight, an explosion has occurred in the Master's Mansion in Northern Wisconsin. It has left the occupant, Vlad Masters, billionaire and business tycoon, in critical condition. Also, we have just gotten word that a wallet used by Daniel Fenton, who disappeared almost a year ago, has been found at ground zero of the explosion. No body has yet been found.

Danny Fenton looked among the many Tv's for sale at Wall-2-Wall Mart, all playing the local news. His face was all over the news. Everybody looking for him. Tabloids saying in the accident he was turned into a ghost. Well, they were sorta right. In more ways then one. Danny Fenton was gone to the world. He didn't exist anymore.

Danny sat down and looked into the mirror. He was dead a long time before before the Masters accident. This was at the Nasty Burger, where he had no one anymore. Vlad was nice and all, but Danny couldn't get past his family not being there, by his side. He was depressed most of the day, not even caring if the sun were to explode. He would just lie in his bed most of the day and do nothing.

Vlad was hurting, but at least he could still enjoy life. Danny just wanted it all to go away. So, in a desperate move, Vlad had split Danny down the middle, hoping to claw out this misery out of his life. But it had all backfired. Danny had had his psyche cut in half, His yin and yang broken down the line, his heart and soul torn apart. His human half was the outer, depressed person who was aphetic to everything. But his ghost half had all the inner rage and hate built up over the years. So when the ghost half was taken out, he went for the person who most of the anger was built upon, Vlad. With his sick logic, Phantom took out his anger on Vlad, blaming him for everything that happened. He took out Vlad's ghost half, and seeing the opportunity to gain more power, he overshadowed it. With that, the transformation was complete. Danny Phantom was no more, only the twisted madness remained.

After a year of being pent up inside Danny's already fractured psyche, Dan finally was out into the world. He was the Hulk, the rage and anger personified into a living breathing behemoth. And Danny, he was just Bruce Banner, the quiet, messed up guy who lives alone in his apartment, sulking about his childhood.

Danny looked at himself again in the mirror, then at a 9th grade school photo he carried in his pocket. He had changed outside as well. His raven black hair was all drenched down, from when he came to the Wall-2-Wall Mart to get out of the rain. His piercing blue eyes were now duller that they had ever been, they had lost their spark. His black hoodie and pants were also drenched to the core, the former bearing a Valentine heart engulfed in cold blue fire, representing that all that was left of his eaten away heart, a cold, empty void.

He clutched the photo in his hands, and ripped it in half. They were both gone, Danny Fenton was no more. Only the twisted madness remained.


	3. Chapter 3

Phantom Prime

by Moocow

Chapter 3 Genesis

Danny ran though the raining streets trying to find shelter from the storm. He took a left into a dark ally, and stopped to think about his next move. He already promised Fentonworks to Valerie, he couldn't show up on her doorstep. And what if that freak got to her, who knows what he would do if she was involved? Go back to Vlad? Even if he wasn't broke with the hospital bills and property destruction, he was just an old man, he wanted Vlad as far away from this as possible. Dan already had issues with Vlad, going back would make it worse.

Danny then sat down in the middle of the alleyway, and reflected on his situation. He had no money, no shelter, and no food. This just kept on going from bad to worse. Danny just sat down and quietly sobbed himself to sleep.

_In Danny's dream, he was running to his parents, trapped at Ground Zero of the Nasty Burger explosion. He didn't know what he could do, he was just running as a last ditch effort as if he could somehow save him. That laughing, HIS laughing was everywhere. Danny was just screaming now, screaming and running to try and save them. But for every step he went forward, it seemed that the Nasty Burger moved twice as far back. The laughing, the screaming, it was too much. Danny couldn't take it anymore. At the top of his lungs, he screamed for mercy._

_Suddenly, a faint green glow came from his left hand, and grew brighter and brighter until it consumed everything in the dream with a bright green glow. Then, it slowly dimmed to a scene in space, an absolute quiet and beauty. The ultimate stress relief, where not even gravity could hold him down. _

_ The faint green glow moved down to his wrist and manifested itself into a very large, yet sleek and futuristic watch. The watch's "face" flashed though a series of numbers gathering information about it's host. Within seconds, a message took the numbers place, "ID: Daniel Jack Fenton, user authenticated. Ready for use," and the entire face of the watch popped up like a button. _

_In his dream, Danny pressed the button and the green glow filled up his dream once again..._


	4. Chapter 4

Phantom Prime  
by Moocow

Chapter 4: Dawning

"Dude? Dude? You okay, Dude?"

Danny slowly opened his eyes and slowly got to his feet. He got to his feet and analyzed his rescuer. He had blond hair, blue eyes, and had on casual clothing. He didn't look like too much of a threat.

"Where am I?" Danny said, realizing that this wasn't the alley he fell asleep in. He was instead in a messy apartment, clothes everywhere, with paper plates at the table with remains of breakfast still on them, Danny guessed from the looks of it was pizza. Taking another look around, he noticed a cracked open pantry filled with every sugary food known to man. From Apple Pie to Zebra Cakes, it was stuffed to the brim with the stuff. He even had a box of Count Coco's, even though it was nowhere near Halloween.

Danny came to this conclusion, " I'm either in heaven, a five year olds fantasy land, or a collage dorm."

The guy laughed, "None of them, dude. You are in the apartment of Mr. Conner "Spaz" Marjin, 100 free bird of the man. Take a seat," he said, as he pulled up a chair.

Danny thought to himself, "I was close with the collage thing." What he said was, "So what exactly happened to me, how come I wake up and find my self in your apartment, Mr Marjin?"

Mr. Marjin shook his head, "Dude, just call me Spaz. I'm not to good with the Mr. Adult thing." Danny was about to bring up that he introduced himself as Mr. Conner "Spaz" Marjin, but he was cut off. "As for what happened, I saw you in a most non-excellent position on the street, so I pulled you into my domain. Anyway, I just got promoted to Cashier at Nero's Gnarly Pizza, so I had extra cash to help out anyway." All this time, Danny was wondering if he was somehow dropped into "Bob and Fred's Most Gnarly Quest."

Danny got up from his chair, and stared to head for the door. As kind as Spaz was, Danny didn't feel comfortable around a guy who abducted kids off the street. "Well, Mr Spaz. I'd love to stay but honestly, I've got things to do and..." Spaz held up his hand and spoke, "I understand, kid. I just wanted to ask you if you could turn your watch off, its blinking was keeping me up last night."

Danny looked down at his hand, he didn't have a watch on. But he noticed a semi-large but chrome and futuristic looking watch, with a green screen of the face of the watch blinking "Ready for use," brightly. He looked at this thing that apparently crawled onto his wrist and realized that that blinking was annoying, and he wanted it to stop. Instantly, it just stopped. Danny didn't do anything. It just stopped blinking, and showed the current time and date. He would have most likely wondered about the watch more, but was interrupted when a figure in a white suit and a black hat phased though the floor of the apartment. The ghost looked worried, but as soon as he saw Danny, an evil smirk crawled onto his face.

"Long time, no see, Daniel." The ghost said, turning from his translucent, intangible form,to a solid one. "I'd love to stay and chat but, for various crimes against the real world and the ghost zone alike, I'll have to put you in the slammer for at least 1,000,000 years. We'll have plenty of time to talk then.

"Walker."


	5. Chapter 5

Phantom Prime

By Moocow

Chapter 5: Execute

Danny instantly shot into hero mode. He took a battle pose and prepared to go ghost. He mentally slapped himself. He couldn't go ghost, he have to do this the hard way. He took a step back, and eased himself toward the door. Walker teleported behind him and cut off his exit.

"Daniel Fenton, you are under arrest for wreaking havoc to this world and the next."Walker read from his book, Da Rulez. "Even if it is you ghostly counterpart, I ain't the one stupid enough to face him, so you'll be the next best thing." Danny found himself in a corner, with Walker standing over him, fists glowing an ectoplasmic green. "It is my duty to capture Dan Phantom and prevent him from destroying the ghost zone entirely and you are a good bargaining chip. I give him you, and he doesn't destroy my world."

Danny finally built up nerve to speak, "You're insane, Walker. What kind of law do you enforce?"

The twisted officer smiled, "Mine." With that he fired an ectoblast at point blanc range. Time seemed to be skidding to a stop as the ectoblast crept closer and closer. Danny screamed for his life.

**ADRINILINE SPIKE REGISTERED, EXECUTING EMERGINCY MODE**

With a tone, the watch suddenly emitted a ghost shield pulse, deflecting the ectoplasmic beam and sending Walker flying into the opposite wall. Danny examined the watch at a fleeting glance and found that the message on the face had changed and now read,

**Fenton Ecto-Skeleton Mark II Online. Press faceplate in to execute Full Mode.**

Walker was back in the fray and flying toward Danny fast. Time suddenly became slower again, and Danny dived back to the ground and rolled of to the side. On pure instinct, he pushed down the faceplate, as if he had did it a million times before.

**Executing Fenton Ecto-Skeletion**

A bright flash of light erupted from the watch and Danny watched in partial horror as his body became encased in metal wrapping around his body like a snake. When the change was complete, Danny was in full body armor, covered from head to to in the strange metal, save a bit for some sort of tinted visor on a helmet. Around his waist was a gadget Danny recognized as the Specter Deflector, with a myriad of other Fenton devices on his waist. Danny was completely stunned still, and from personal experience, he knew that it was the worst place to be in a fight. Walker came back from behind Danny and tried to catch him. But Danny's quick reflexes in ghost fighting didn't leave him entirely, and he picked up Walker and threw him into the ground. The Specter Deflector also sparked to life, sending pain though his undead body. Walker hid the ground hard, but was able to pull himself back up. But, he was not interested in continuing to fight.

"I do not have time for this right now," He said, starting to dissolve into the air, "But, mark my words, Fenton. I will return!" He said, as he became a cloud of ectoplasm that eventually dissapperated into nothingness.

Danny breathed out a long sigh of relief, glad that this was over. But, what about this watch? Where did it come from? Why was it called the Fenton Ecto-Skeleton mark II? He never remembered his parents building a second ecto-skeleton.

But all of his thoughts were shattered when a voice came from the back of the room. "So, Danny Fenton, I presume, why didn't you tell me?" Spaz asked.


	6. Chapter 6

Phantom Prime

by Moocow

Chapter 6: Backstory

A million things ran though Danny's head. None of them good. Did he know he was supposed to be dead? Did he know about Phantom? Six months and he already blew his secret identity. "About what?" Danny asked, wincing for the answer.

The tension was broken by a blond girl with sunglasses storming into the room from the side, red face, fists clenched. "What the hartman is going on here? I leave for a minute to get some water for your 'rescue mission' and this place turns into a wrestling arena."

Spaz started to explain to the sixteen year old, 'Sis, there was a ghost..." She cut him off. "Don't use that 'there was a ghost' crud with me, I ain't oblivious to the world just cause..."

While they were arguing with each other, Danny went back to his thoughts. This watch didn't just appear out of nowhere, someone must of put it on him. Someone who knew about Danny Fenton? Somebody who knew about Danny PHANTOM?

Spaz's sister swung Danny around by the shoulder so he faced her. The suit had long been deactivated, so she didn't know about the watch. "Spazzy told me your some sort of power ranger or something, come to save the town from all evil?" Danny looked at her, not understanding. She groaned, pinched his shoulder down so they were both eye to eye.

Spaz interjected, "Tammy, your hurting him." Tammy whipped of her glasses and stared Spaz down, she then turned to Danny. As soon as Danny got a good look at her eyes for the first time, he gasped involuntarily. Her eyes were blue, the same as her brother's, but the comparison stopped there. The whites of here eyes were gray, mushy, and red with tiny blood vessels visible. Her eyes darted around the room, unable to see anything.

Danny blurted, "You're blind!" before he could stop himself. Tammy face turned to mock curiosity, and she waved her other hand in front he face. "Well, what you you know, I AM blind. Now that we got that out of the way..." She squeezed down again. Danny sunk down even lower, growling in pain. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" She interrogated.

Danny hissed out, "Danny Fenton, I'm 16 years old." Danny blurted out the first thing that came to him, "I'm a ghosthunter." Tammy squeezed even harder, Danny yelled in his agony, Spaz turned away. "A GHOSTHUNTER!" She screamed, ringing around in Danny's ears. "DO YOU WORK WITH AXIOM?"Danny screamed back, "No. I just came here." Tammy let go of his shoulder and Danny fell to all fours. She calmly continued, "A while back, Axiom labs broke into the ghost dimension with this new portal thing. This town has been infested with ghosts ever since. Crime rate went though the roof, the city turend into a ghost town, and my, our parents..." She trailed off, and there was a long pause.

Danny tried to comfort her, "I'm so..." He started, but instantly Tammy was on him. "NO, DON'T SAY THAT! DON'T EVER SAY THAT! YOU NEVER KNEW THEM, YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE SORRY!" Spaz stepped over and put his hand on her shoulder. Tammy finally broke down, let loose of everything she had in the arms of her big brother. Danny looked on, a cloud of the deepest sorrow. He wanting to step in, but help would make it worse. He knew that all too well. Spaz looked down at him, and his eyes said everything, "You should probably go." Danny picked up his windbreaker and left Spaz's apartment.


	7. Chapter 7

Phantom Prime

by Moocow

Chapter 7: Reflection

Danny was back on the street, back where it all started. Where he got that stupid watch. No, he decided. The watch wasn't where it started. The portal was. He shouldn't have gotten into that deathtrap. He shouldn't have even turned on the thing. He shouldn't have become Danny Phantom. 'And yet,' a phantom voice he hadn't heard from in two years spoke. 'Danny Phantom was a godsent, he protected Anity park for about nine months. Without him, things would have been worse.'

"Danny Phantom should have never been born," he said to himself. "He was public enemy number one."

'He saved the town from Pariah Dark.'

"He looted the city for Freakshow."

'He saved Sam from certain death.'

"He destoryed the city, my family, my friends, MY LIFE!"

'He's saved the city more times than you can count. You just saw what Amity Park could of been, what will be.'

"No," Danny said. "You lie. Why do you tease me? Who are you?

He looked behind him and saw a boy. But not just any boy, one with an ominious glow, white hair and glowing green eyes. "I am Danny Phantom, The one that should have been. The one that can be."

"NO!" Danny screamed, and punched though the illusion. The mirror shattered and the illusion broke apart. Danny looked down, seeing only figments of himself. "Danny Phantom is dead."

'Remember who you are.' The voice begged, and then faded into oblivion.

Spaz and Tammy found their house guest sobbing on a bench outside a mirror store. Mirror pieces were everywhere and Danny wrist was cut in various places. Spaz ran over to him ad looked him up and down. "Are you okay man?" He asked. Danny looked up, face soaked with tears, "Yeah, I'm fine." He said and shook himself off. "Good, cause my little sister has something to say to you."

Tammy hung her head and said, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have exploded on you. I was just too hurt by everything that happened. My parents, my impairments, it was just too much hurt. I shouldn't have taken it out on you."

Danny was starting to pull back, "I know exactly whats going on. My parents, sister, friends. They were at this one restaurant when it exploded. The furnace was sabotaged and..."

Tammy went back into full metal jacket mode. "Who did this to you, a ghost?"

Danny had been waiting to tell somebody his childhood secret for ages. He wanted to get out on the top of the Ops Center back home and yell that he was Danny Phantom to the heavens for all to hear. Now it was gone, and he to lock it up to never come back again, Like some horrid stain on his rug that he wanted no one to see.

Danny sighed and relented, "It was a ghost." Tammy went to interject but Danny held up his hand. "It was me." And with that, Danny explained the last two years of his life. He only wanted to to tell the beginning but he sat there on that bench and preached his entire experience as Amity Park's hero. From the Dragon of Aragon, to Youngblood he told them all of his adventures, friends, enemies, school life, and everything else. Like he was some balloon ready to burst and was finally letting out air.

He ended with the Nasty Burger incident. "That day changed me forever." He commented, "It made me go to Vlad and to just end my suffering, I asked him to rip everything out. Just put everything in my Ghost half and just end it."

Tammy hung her head and she new what came next. "It worked, didn't it?"

Danny started to cry, "He was a monster, he ripped out Vlad's powers and added them to his own. He was twisted into a power-hungry madman. So much that he left me for dead, and somehow came back in time and made sure he existed. Danny Phantom is dead. I'm the only thing left."

Spaz spoke up, "Danny, You have the Fenton Ecto-Skeleton. You can do it again, save the city, face down Dan, remember yourself."

Danny paused, then answered, "No Spaz, I'm doing the right thing. If I start playing hero again, I could attract his attention. He could finish what they started."

Spaz refused to let this drop, "First, the city is aready crawling with ghosts and Axiom labs is already. Not to mention that Walker goon already knows where you are, and word will probably get around. Look," he said and turned toward Danny. "Ever since I picked up my first comic book, I want to have superpowers. It would be awesome to fight crime, especially ghosts, be cheered on by a city. You have the watch, you have the powers, you can do this."

Danny replied, "Sorry, that just isn't me anymore."

Spaz relented, "Okay, I understand. I was gonna let you stay in the guest bed. But if you wanna be stubborn..." and he started to walk away."

Danny spoke up, "Wait, I'll see what I can do about the ghost problems."

Spaz gave a warm smile to himself, "He was bunking with a superhero, and a ghosthunter at that. His forum buddies were gonna be so jealous.


	8. Chapter 8

Phantom Prime  
by Moocow

Chapter 8: Return

Danny, Spaz, and Tammy were standing outside of of a deserted warehouse-like building that had a burnt-out neon "A" inside an atom crowning it. In and out the building looked like it had been though a war as a bombshelter and was also covered in ectoplasm.

"Well," Spaz said, "This is the local Axiom branch lab. There all over the place now,12 in 27 states last time I checked." He cracked up to himself, but a glare from Tammy and Danny put him off. He continued, "Okay, ever since Axiom installed one of your ghost portal things in this building, the ghosts have been streaming out of there. They hang out in the lab when they're not roaming the streets since it's close to the Ghost Zone. Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to stop all the ghosts that are coming though. Danny could of sworn he heard that line somewhere before, but was interrupted by the watch beeping and flashing franticly.

-WARNING! FENTON FINDER DECTECTS 25 GHOSTS IN AREA AHEAD-

Danny cursed his luck under his breath, "You weren't kidding. The watch says they are at least 25 ghosts in there."

Spaz asked, "You still up to this?"

Danny stuck back, "You bet I am. I made a promise to you back there that I would help you guys to get your town back to normal and I intend to keep it! As soon as this thing turns on the suit, I'm going in."

Tammy eyed him oddly, "What did you do to get that hunk a junk in gear in the first place?"

Danny sighed, "I don't know, this thing just crawled on my wrist while I was asleep and I can't even work the thing. What's this things deal?" Suddenly the watch beeped to life, and spurted out a message.

-THE FENTON ECTO-SKELITION MARK II IS A DEVICE THAT CONNECT WITH THE USER TO THE POINT WHERE IT INTEGRATES INTO NEURAL FUNCTIONS AND CAN BE ACTIVATED AND CONTROLED LIKE AN EXTENSION OF THE BODY. HOWEVER, THE WATCH ALSO RESPONDS TO VOCAL COMMANDS.-

Tammy and Spaz gathered around Danny as he read the message aloud. Spaz was the first to reply. "So this thing can read your mind and responds to vocal commands, like 'Engage full Ecto-skeleton mode?'"

With that, the faceplate of the watch shot up and read; -MANUAL AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED, PRESS DOWN FACEPLATE TO EXCUTE- Danny sighed and lifted his hand, "Here goes nothing," and pressed the faceplate in. The feeling of metal snaking around his body came over him once more as the battle suit covered his body. Within seconds, the Fenton Ecto-Skeleton covered Danny's body entirely. Danny made a couple test movements, and when he was satisfied, he went into the Axiom Labs building.

The visor of the FESII overloaded with information. From everything that he gathered, this place was crawling with ghosts. The only light around came from dusted over windows. The walls were covered in some metal or another, and some gadgets lying around. "Well, here we go." Danny said, arming the Fenton Bazooka.

The visor picked up some ecto residue that was just minutes old. He decided to go on it's trail. While scoping out the ghost, it brought a feeling he hadn't had in ages. Satisfaction? Yeah, that had to be it. A smile cracked his face, it was good to be back. Suddenly, a pair of Ectopusses flew out from behind him. Danny turned on his heels and blasted them both. The pair of ghosts imploded into the ghost zone. Danny chuckled at his small victory. He had forgotten how fun this was. He laughed as he send ghost after ghost back into their home. After an hour, Danny came out of Axiom, completely ecstatic.

"Woo! That was the best rush I have ever had! There were ghosts every where and I just picked em off one by one, haHA! That was the greatest!" Danny was laughing insanely on his high, as Spaz and Tammy looked on.

"What did they do to him?" Tammy asked.

Spaz shook his head. "Maybe it's his way off letting off steam. Finally taking back what he lost, beating down ghosts with his watch makes him feel invincible. Some ego trip just waiting to come out?" Tammy shrugged.

"Everybody now!" Danny shouted as he went into a round of 'We are the Champions,' complete with air guitar sound effects.

Spaz shook his head, "Be nice to him, Tam. An hour ago, he was beating up himself up over his situation." Danny then started to slam the air guitar into the ground along wing sound effects.

Tammy rolled her eyes, "Insanity, party of one. Your table's ready."

* * *

A while later, Danny was awoken by a high pitched beeping noise coming from the watch. 

-WARNING! FENTON FINDER DETECTS GHOST 10+ POWER. ID; PHANTOM PRIME-

"Phantom Prime?" Danny wondered outloud, oh well, he had a duty to do. He snuck down the fire escape of the apartment and headed for the streets, Ecto suit powered up. A while later, the watch indicated that the ghost was nearby. Danny pulled out the Fenton Bazooka and noticed a shadow of a figure around a corner. He hugged the wall, took a deep breath and jumped out. "FREEZE, Ecto..." He trailed off as he recognized the figure. Danny's blood ran cold. This was the face that haunted his nightmares time and again. The one who stole his life from him and warped it into a living chaos. Danny couldn't form a word, but one wasn't necessary.

"Hello again, Daniel. Miss me?"


	9. Chapter 9

Phantom Prime

by Moocow

Chapter 9: Barter

"Well, well," the ghost oozed, looking over Danny with his crimson eyes, burning with rage to match his flaming hair, "I never knew I'd be seeing you again, at least not in one piece." His skin tight haz-mat suit expanded and contracted with the spasm of his evil laughter. In turn, the emblem on it distorted as well, representing the incident all too well.

Danny finally built up nerve to say something, "What do you want with me?"

The ghost sighed, "You know Fenton, you really have to use some manners. Didn't your two years with Vlad help your social skill at all? You gotta say, Please."

"I know something better," Danny said, whipping out the Fenton Scope, and firing it on Phantom.

"Ah,ah." Phantom tisked, as he made a ecto-shield around himself absorbing the blast into it. "Relax, Fenton. I just wanna talk. We can get fighting later." He floated entirely around Danny, examined him just to be sure. "When I first heard it from Walker, I didn't believe it. I guess I underestimated you, Fenton, you are alive and well." Danny rolled his eyes and kept his weapon on the monster. "Relax," Phantom said, putting up his hands in mock submission. "I don't plan to change that any time soon. If you cooperate, of course."

Danny kept his gun on him, and started to charge it to full blast. "I'm not going to agree to anything."

Phantom said, "Ah, so you're all powerful now, you can take on me and put me in your thermos and lock me away for eternity. Well, I guess then I won't tell you about how I can get you life to normal, and change the past so that this never happened."

Danny drained the charge of the rifle but still kept it tightly aimed at it's target. "What do you mean?"

An evil smirk took root on Phantom's face. "Ah. So your are interested in getting them back. Tell me, Fenton... Do you remember Clockwork and his time medallions? Cause while you were sitting around moping about what you were going to do and how you were the most pathetic lifeform on earth, I was coming up with a way to use his time medallions change this timeline to where it never happened."

Danny shook his head, "You honestly think that Clockwork just hands out his time medallions to anybody that knocks?"

Phantom shook his head, "Fenton, you underestimate me. When you and Foley were examining the one you retrieved from the Box Ghost child for the first time, you did keep it in Fenton Works, correct?" Danny started to search his memory, but Phantom cut him off, "Don't bother, Fenton. If you cannot remember, then at least I can. I could go get it, but the problem is that it still has the ghost shield in place. See, Fenton Works has been occupied with an amateur ghost hunter ever since you left with Masters. She's young, bright, a tad inexperienced..."

Danny cut him off," Valerie!" The gun roared to life, "You hurt her and..."

Phantom put on a face of mock fear, and put his hands up in surrender, "Good Heavens, no. Fenton, I just need you to break the DNA lock on the ghost shield, then take the time medallion and leave. Then, we use it to open a gate to a time where this future never happened."

Danny kept the gun charged, and asked him, "Why do you want to change the past if it will only help me.

Phantom sighed, "Ever since the Nasty Burger accident, I have been just like you. Hurt inside, lashing out, I just don't want it anymore, I want their blood off my hands. And I'm sure you feel the same way as me. You feel guilty about their loss, you wish you could go back and change it. Well, I'm offering you a way out of your life and struggles, and you would be a fool to reject it. So, will you get me my time medallion?"

Danny froze up on the spot, his brain was screaming at him to not agree to it, he could not be trusted and if he got his hands on a time medallion, he could be unstoppable. He would be fighting what made him Danny Phantom in the first place, protecting Amity park and his family and friends. But then, his memories of his family and friends came back to him, and flooded his mind in a sea of bliss and absolute glee of times past. Christmas time and birthday rolled up in one and assaulted him in what happed and how it could still be. The memories spanned from When Danny met Tucker when he was five, to 8 year old Danny waiting for Santa in front of the fireplace with Jazz, trying to keep each other awake. To Danny going fishing with his dad when he was 9, to when he was sick at 12 with the flu, and was watching movies with his Mom. Then it flashed to Danny and Sam going to homecoming together and Dancing the last dance. Finally, it went to a time and place where they were all in front of FentonWorks and they had taken the picture at the start of their Freshman year, so that no matter what happened, they could always remember what it was like back in that summer, just one day rolling into another with nothing to worry about.

In an almost hypnotic trance, Danny reached out his hand. Phantom shook it vigorously, showing through his eyes... only the slightest signs of deceit.


	10. Chapter 10

Phantom Prime

by Moocow

Chapter 10: Afterthoughts

"Ordering! I need a Epic-sized Caesar Supreme with the works, and a box of Hot Nero Nuggets!" the cashier said.

Danny pulled the ordered pizza out of the oven and got the side of wings out from under a heat lamp. Ironically, the day he went to work at Nero's Gnarly Pizza was the day that he swore off fast food. "For good reason," Danny reminded himself, attempting to swallow his gag when he tore off the post-it note that stated the time the wings put on under the heat lamp. Still, Spaz needed the money, and they had the same lunch hour. "One epic heart-attack and a box of 'euuuyuck,' to the front," Danny whispered to himself. Unfortunately, the Manager overheard his complaining.

"Private! Front and center!" Danny shot to attention at the mention of his rank given, seeing as the manager didn't have the time or the social skills to memorize names. Nearly dropping the food, Danny went up to his "commanding officer", who ordered, "Recite the first of 'Nero's Non-Neglections!'"

"Non-Negection Number One:" Danny stated confidently with more than a tinge of weariness, seeing as he had recited this particular rule a million times before. "Any revelation to the public about the ancient traditions of Nero's Gnarly Pizza, will therefore have there pay docked equal to profit lost, double when the health inspector's involved, sir."

"Very good," he said, ushering Danny to the counter, but not before he spoke in Danny's ear, "Honestly, I don't like you, Private. If I could have my way, you would be fired so fast, you could've felt the burns the day beforehand. Ever since Day One on the job, you have been complaining about 'hygiene,' and 'the customer,' and 'cockroaches.' But since we have been so shorthanded thanks to these hooligans vandalizing the city..."

One of the employees walked in on the conversation, "You mean the ghosts, sir?" This seem to throw the Manager for a tailspin.

"They are not ghosts, Comrade, they are vandals. How many times do I need to tell all of you, Ghost's are as real as cockroaches on this facility! Dismissed, all of you." The crowd that gathered up around the conversation gradually dissolved back into their jobs, save Spaz.

"So, Dude?" he asked, walking up to the How is it like to have the James T. Jerk experience?"

"'James T. Jerk?'" asked Danny, stifling a laugh, "I thought he was 'General Jerkwad'?"

"He was demoted for disorderly contact. He is now, 'Major Jerkwad.'"

"It fits, I guess." Suddenly, the 5:00 bell went off, signaling the end of everyone's shift. "Finally," Danny said, as he started for the door with Spaz. As he walked, Danny was a little to somber for Spaz's tastes, so he tried to chat him up.

"So, big ghost hunting plans tonight? Can I test out my new 'Tepee assault rifle?' I just got it working properly. I just need some ammo now, cause the generic stuff unrolls too easy, and Fenton wipe is too soft for projectile use, and..."

Danny couldn't take the rambling any more. "Quiet, Spaz! Sheesh, you're worse than Jazz!"

"Jazz?"

"Jazz. My sister. In the Nasty Buger Incident."

Spaz looked Danny up and down, and eventually he asked, "Is she hot?"

Danny rolled his eyes, "Forget it. Anyway, It looks like I'm pretty clear for the night." He said, looking at the schedule on the watch. Of course, he didn't tell Spaz about his run in with his evil self. He was still lost about how he could make a deal with him. How could he have done such a thing with almost no second thought? It was almost like he was forced to do it, but alas the deed was done. He was mulling it over when Spaz interrupted his thoughts.

"So, Danny, I, um, had something I wanted to tell you."

Danny looked up, confused. Spaz was not one to stumble over his words, "Yeah?"

Spaz took a deep breath, "Well, for the past couple months or so, I had a fund drive at work for the town hero, as we call him. So anyway, we got up a decent amount or so for you and I just wanted to give it to you as a way to say 'Thanks for protecting the city.' The city is starting to come back together and everyone is not having to fend off ghosts just to walk down the street. You saved us and if you ever left, I don't know what we'd do or even if we'd recover.

Danny was in tears at this point, all justification of leaving lost in his mindframe. Spaz, of course was oblivious, "Ah, don't cry man. If you cry, I'm gonna cry. And then, we just be sitting here crying our heads off. How stupid will that look? I mean, somebody walks by and..."

Danny couldn't take it any more, "SHUT UP!" Spaz stopped his monologue just in time to catch Danny's face recover from it's surge of anger back into it's depressed state. "Just shut up and leave me alone, okay?" He said, as he ran down the street, and tried to sort out his rampant emotions. A frown came over Spaz's face, which became a raw fear when his own breath became tight and cold. "Danny, wait." He said, catching up with him unusually quickly. "Look Danny, I know all about the the deal with Phantom, and you shouldn't go through with it..."

Danny scoffed and moved into a sprint, "So now your spying on me? Watching my every move, now?"

Spaz kept up, feet almost not touching the ground, "Danny, stop now. You don't know what you are getting into, I..." He was returned with a sock to the face. "JUST LEAVE ME ALONE, I'M NOT INTRESTED IN BEING HERO, I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE."

"Perhaps, I can help," a voice said, with the source not far behind. As the intangible ghost walked outside the deserted building he was hiding in and made himself known, both Danny and Spaz's knew the owner.

"Well, well, well." Phantom said, looking over the pair, "I would have never seen this coming. What an unlikely teamup for you." He said, eying them both. Spaz said, "All right, Phantom, what do you want. You have your prize, now where is she?"

Phantom laughed with glee, "Patience, Servent. All will be revealed in due time."

"Servant?" Danny repeated to himself horrified.

Spaz eyes lit up in rage, his fist tightening until Danny couldn't tell where hand and finger began or ended. "I told you I did not want her involved in this. Now give. her. back. Now!"

"Or what," the evil ghost laughed, "You'll entertain me with your pitiful attempt to fight me? Not when she could possibly be right under our very noses." With that, a ecto-dome materialized behind Phantom with Tammy inside it. Only, it wasn't Tammy exactly. Her blond hair had been replaced with green, and the faded blue remains of her blank eyes were now red. Also, her body glowed with a faint ghostly aura. She was a ghost.

Danny was shocked and taken aback, "You killed her?" He exclaimed, reaching for his watch. Spaz grabbed him and put him into an arm lock.

Phantom rolled his eyes, "Moi? Never. I assure you this is her natural spectral form and she was a ghost long before we were even born. She is not the only one," he then turned to Spaz. "It's nice to know you have some loyalty left, or common sense. If Mr. Fenton was to rain on my parade, then what would be of your friend here?" He said, tightening the ecto-dome around his prisoner.

"You release her now!" Spaz demanded, and suddenly something Danny couldn't have expected happened. Suddenly, in a flash of light, Spaz was gone and a green, ghostly bear was in his place. The bear started his accent to tackle the ghost with an intent to tear him limb to limb.

"He's a ghost, too?" Danny wondered, "They are all ghosts ?"

"Calm down, you unstable bundle of nerves," Phantom said, snapping his fingers, and the lion was flung back to earth in a cloud of green smoke. When it cleared, all that remained was a naked ectoplasmic blob with red eyes, similar to any other shapeshifting ghost floating around the ghost zone. The green cloud lingered on, immobilizing him and keeping him on the ground.

Phantom resumed his monolog, "You do remember I have all the cards now, right?" With a wave of his hand, Danny found himself engulfed in a similar cloud and immobilized as well. "And as long as you both are settled in, I have a couple of things I want you do to for me..."


End file.
